Editorial 2015

The 27th TYROL EASTER FESTIVAL invites people to enjoy an international exchange for three weeks in Hall and Innsbruck, with events including old and new music, dancing, performance, film and discussions, all on the theme of courage. The courage, in part, to tread one’s own, new path - in a time of upheaval and also regression, the courage not allowing oneself to be led astray by the flood of rapid information, and the courage to take one’s time to get to know and understand others.

The Belgian artist collective BERLIN has been treading new paths ever since it was founded. With two of their video performances (both Austrian premieres), they begin the festival by taking a look at our virtually influenced present day and have projector screens tell unique, real stories that contrast with this. At the same time, they discuss Jerusalem - the international focal point when it comes to how to live together without conflict. Some of our performances are dedicated to remembering war and its countless victims through to our time - our world is rocked by new atrocities every day. These performances range from the opening featuring the soul world of poet Georg Trakl, who was broken by war, and the music of Weinberg, through to Good Friday with Jordi Savall and his hommage to the Armenian spirit, borne by melancholy, beauty and grace. In all of the music, there is also a search for something better, hope and love.

Among those taking a contemporary approach to dance and performance is Maud Le Pladec – she turns dance into something we dream of experiencing: embracing the music, intermingling with it and opening it up to unbridled imagination. Olivier Dubois achieves something almost impossible in his new piece, Souls, in which six dancers from six different African states combine their ‘souls’. The link is sought and found both by Sœur Marie Keyrouz from Lebanon with her Ensemble de la Paix, and also star choreographer Akram Khan, who enables contemporary dance to combine with old classic Indian Kathak to create something new. We are honouring an innovator within music, Pierre Boulez, who has been fighting throughout his life for the contemporary, with his trailblazing work ‘Le Marteau sans maître’ on his 90th birthday.

There is also something special at the start of spring and on Bach’s birthday in the form of his Goldberg variations – one of the most significant variation cycles in music history, and the performance of Penitential Psalms by Orlando di Lasso in the ‘original instrumentation’ of the Münchner Hofkapelle at the time of the composer with dolce risonanza and the Profeti della Quinta. Two exciting projects are the performance ‘Envers et face à tous’ with people from Tyrol as well as the performance of ‘Llibre Vermell de Montserrat’ (14th century), a jewel of music by the medieval pilgrim, rich in folk sounds, with La Camera delle Lacrime together with Stimmsalz Hall and the vocal studio Do-Re-Mi Telfs.

Additional impulses are created by films, in discussions, and introductions (each at 7.15pm), and also in the brief activities by 15 Orte (each at 3pm). You can find out more at www.osterfestival.at.